This book examines the legal regulation of violence and the role of litigation in Athenian society. Using comparative anthropological and historical perspectives, David Cohen challenges traditional evolutionary and functionalist accounts of the development of legal process. Examining Athenian theories of social conflict and the rule of law, as well as actual litigation involving the regulation of violence, the book emphasizes the way in which the judicial process operates in an agonistic society.

Part I: The Realm of Theory

1. Law and Order 2. Theorising Athenian Society: The Problem of Stability 3. Theorizing Athenian Society: The Rule of Law 4. Rhetoric, Litigation, and the Values of an Agonistic Society

Part II: The Realm of the Courts

5. Litigation as Feud 6. Violence and Litigation 7. Hubris and the Legal Regulation of Sexual Violence 8. Litigation and the Family 9. Litigation, Democracy, and the Courts

This book examines the legal regulation of violence and the role of litigation in Athenian society. Using comparative anthropological and historical perspectives, David Cohen challenges traditional evolutionary and functionalist accounts of the development of legal process. Examining Athenian theories of social conflict and the rule of law, as well as actual litigation involving the regulation of violence, the book emphasizes the way in which the judicial process operates in an agonistic society.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Realm of Theory

1. Law and Order 2. Theorising Athenian Society: The Problem of Stability 3. Theorizing Athenian Society: The Rule of Law 4. Rhetoric, Litigation, and the Values of an Agonistic Society

Part II: The Realm of the Courts

5. Litigation as Feud 6. Violence and Litigation 7. Hubris and the Legal Regulation of Sexual Violence 8. Litigation and the Family 9. Litigation, Democracy, and the Courts